Friendship is a common theme of poetry.

Poetry is the form of writing that best expresses emotion. Poems have been written about love, hate, revenge, nature, death and family. Name a human experience, and I’m sure a poem has been written about it. Many poets published and non-published alike have written poems about friendship. Having a friend, being a friend and the qualities to seek in a friend are all themes that have been explored in poetry.

Being a Friend

You’ve heard the expression, if you want a friend, be a friend. In this poem Edgar A. Guest tells us how to do that.

Be a Friend

by Edgar A. Guest

Be a friend. You don’t need money:
Just a disposition sunny;
Just the wish to help another
Get along some way or other;
Just a kindly hand extended
Out to one who’s unbefriended;
Just the will to give or lend,
This will make you someone’s friend.

 

Be a friend. You don’t need glory.
Friendship is a simple story.
Pass by trifling errors blindly,
Gaze on honest effort kindly,
Cheer the youth who’s bravely trying,
Pity him who’s sadly sighing;
Just a little labor spend
On the duties of a friend.

 

Be a friend. The pay is bigger
(Though not written by a figure)
Than is earned by people clever
In what’s merely self-endeavor.
You’ll have friends instead of neighbors
For the profits of your labors;
You’ll be richer in the end
Than a prince, if you’re a friend.

Time for Friends

Robert Frost speaks about making time for friends in this poem:

A Time to Talk

by Robert Frost

When a friend calls to me from the road
And slows his horse to a meaning walk,
I don’t stand still and look around
On all the hills I haven’t hoed,
And shout from where I am, ‘What is it?’
No, not as there is a time to talk.
I thrust my hoe in the mellow ground,
Blade-end up and five feet tall,
And plod: I go up to the stone wall
For a friendly visit.

~

Instant Friendship

When we meet someone who will be a true friend, there’s something familiar about him or her – even though this is the first time we’ve met, as described by Longfellow in this poem:

The Arrow and the Song

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.

 

I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?

 

Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.

Fragility of Friendship

Friendship can be a fragile thing, as demonstrated in this poem by Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton:

from We Have Been Friends Together   

by Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton

We have been friends together,   
In sunshine and in shade; 
Since first beneath the chestnut-trees   
In infancy we played. 
But coldness dwells within thy heart, 
A cloud is on thy brow; 
We have been friends together?   
Shall a light word part us now?

Animal Friends

Gary Soto writes about how the truest friend can sometimes be of the four-legged variety:

from Nelson, My Dog

by Gary Soto

True, he is sometimes tied to parking meters
And sometimes wears the cone of shame from the vet’s office.
But again, he is happiness.
He presents his belly for a friendly scratch.
If you call him, he will drop his tennis ball,
Look up, and come running,
This muddy friend for life. When you bring your nose
To his nose for something like a kiss,
You can find yourself in his eyes.

The Treasure of Friendship

Finding a true friend is one of the greatest treasures of life, according to this poem by Helen Steiner Rice:

from Friendship is a Priceless Gift

by Helen Steiner Rice

Friendship is a priceless gift
that cannot be bought or sold.
But its value is far greater,
than a mountain made of gold.

The poems above are just a few of the numerous poems about friendship that have been written throughout the ages. To search for poems about a certain theme, or just to read more great poetry, check out Poets.org.